THE Land Transportation and Franchising and Regulatory Board
(LTFRB) will hold a hearing on Tuesday next week on the petition filed by the
National Council for Commuter Protection Inc. (NCCPI) to roll back public
transport fares in response to the decline in oil prices.
Representatives of major transport groups like the
Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston), Federation
of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (Fejodap), Alliance of Concerned
Transport Operators (ACTO), Pasang Masda and United Transport Alliance Coalition
(1-UTAK) have been invited to the hearing.
LTFRB spokesman Leandro Tantoco yesterday said that aside
from discussing the petition, the hearing set on Oct. 14 will also try to
dissuade transport groups to drop their plan to hold a major transport strike.
Transport groups have threatened to go on strike to press
their demand for the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law, the value added tax on
fuels, and for another P8/liter rollback in pump prices.
The NCCPI is asking for a P2.50 slash in the P8.50 minimum
fare for jeepneys covering the first four kilometers based on current pump
prices.
Pasang-Masda and 1UTAK had earlier said they would only lower
their fares if oil companies operating here drop diesel prices to P44/liter.
Piston said it is holding out for P40/liter.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles, who joined the call for a
P7-P8 one-time rollback, cited the decline of world prices of crude oil from
beyond the $100/barrel mark to the range of $80-$90/barrel.
"You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that there is
something wrong with the pricing of these oil companies. This month you have a
world crude price that is nearly at the level of the price per barrel in January
of $87 where the price of gasoline per liter was P44.45 and diesel 38.45 even at
lower exchange rate of P40.94 to a dollar. Still, the average rate of gasoline
is at the level of P48/liter for both gasoline and diesel for the month of
October where the exchange rate is at P47.61 to a dollar," Nograles said. –
Ashzel Hachero
